Description

The Spanish jack is a banner of the Spanish arms (quarterly Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarre), without either Granada on the point nor the Anjou inescutcheon. The Spanish term for jack is torrotito or more properly bandera de tajamar. Source: Calvo and Grávalos 1983.

Santiago Dotor, 28 Dec 1998

First adopted in the Reglamento de Banderas, Insignias y Distintivos (Flags, Rank and Distinguishing Flags Regulation) of 11th October 1945.

Santiago Dotor, 27 Feb 2001

Please note that the Spanish jack is not simply a square banner-of-arms derived from the current model of arms. It is described and illustrated in both the 1945 regulation and the 1977 decree. The image in Pedersen 1971 [ped71] follows closely the 1945 Decree. The very similar description of the jack in the 1977 decree has never been thereafter abolished.

There is an – apparently recent – picture of the jack in actual use in Símbolos de España 1999 [cpc99], p. 360, and it looks very much like the one in the Decree, with the following mistakes which I believe are the manufacturer's artistic license:

The jewel in the centre of the Navarrese arms is an emerald – thus green.

The image of the jack in Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] is quite imprecise, since it – mistakenly – uses the same elements (squarish castle, unheraldic lion) and colours as the coat-of-arms.

Santiago Dotor, 04 Sep 2001

Spanish vexillologist Luis Miguel Arias sent a letter to the Spanish Ministry of Defence regarding the colour of the lion on the naval jack. His request was forwarded to the Public Relations Office of the Navy GHQ (Cuartel General de la Armada) which in turn forwarded it to the Naval Museum, who answered (my abridged translation in brackets):